Rajasthan Royals Register a Comfortable 7-Wicket Win vs Sunrisers

With this win, Royals move up to sixth spot on the points table & CSK become the 1st team to qualify for play-offs

Rajasthan Royals chased down 161 against Sunrisers Hyderabad with five balls to spare.

(Photo: BCCI/IPL)

• Rajasthan Royals beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets in Jaipur on Saturday.
• Sunrisers Hyderabad: 160 for eight in 20 overs (Manish Pandey 61; Jaydev Unadkat 2/26).
• Rajasthan Royals: 161 for three in 19.1 overs (Sanju Samson 48 not out, Liam Livingstone 44; Shakib Al Hasan 1/26).

Rajasthan Royals defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets to end their home campaign on a winning note and theoretically keep alive their play-off chances in the ongoing Indian Premier League at the Sawai Man Singh on Saturday.

Opting to bowl in a must-win match, Rajasthan first restricted Sunrisers to 160 for eight and then chased down the target in 19.1 overs.

By virtue of this win, Rajasthan have now moved to the sixth position in the eight-team standings with 10 points from 12 games.

But to stay in contention for a play-off berth, Rajasthan first must win their remaining two away games against Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 30 and Delhi Capitals on May 4 and then hope for favourable results from other matches.

Despite the loss, Sunrisers have just managed to hold to their fourth place in the table with 10 points from 11 games.

Livingstone was in a murderous mood as he didn’t spare single Rajasthan bowler and struck four boundaries and three sixes.

Chasing 161, Liam Livingstone (44 off 26) and Ajinkya Rahane (39 off 34) got Rajasthan off to a flying start with the former taking the attack to the opposition.

The duo raced off to 78 off 55 balls for the opening wicket, picking up 60 runs off the first six powerplay overs before Livingstone perished.

Livingstone was in a murderous mood as he didn’t spare single Rajasthan bowler and struck four boundaries and three sixes during his explosive knock before departing in the 10th over, edging one to Wriddhiman Saha behind the stumps off Rashid Khan’s (1/30) bowling.

An over later Rajasthan suffered yet another blow in the form of Rahane, caught by David Warner at long-off off Shakib Al Hasan (1/26).

Then Sanju Samson (48 not out off 32) and skipper Steve Smith (22) held fort and shared 55 runs in 5.3 overs to take Rajasthan within sniffing distance of win before the latter departed.

But by that time the damage had already been done for Sunrisers as Samson and Ashton Turner completed the formalities with ease.

Nicely placed 103 for one after 12 overs, Sunrisers lost their next seven wickets for just 44 runs.

Earlier, Manish Pandey hit a quick half-century before Sunrisers witnessed a middle-order collapse to be restricted to 160 for eight.

Sent into bat, Sunrisers got off too a good start even after the early dismissal of skipper Kane Williamson (13) with Warner and Manish Pandey sharing 75 runs off just 50 balls for the second wicket before losing the plot after the halfway stage.

Nicely placed 103 for one after 12 overs, Sunrisers lost their next seven wickets for just 44 runs before Rashid (17 not out off 8) played a short cameo towards the end to take the visitors to the 160-run mark.

Pandey reached his fifty in 27 balls with the help of eight fours but just when the partnership was looking threatening, a brilliant catch by Smith sent Warner packing.

Warner's innings was a struggle as he scored 37 off 32 balls but failed to hit a single boundary.

Manish Pandey made a fine 61 off 36 balls with the help of nine boundaries.

Pandey continued his aggressive instinct and lofted Gopal over extra cover for an exquisite boundary. But the leg-spinner hand the last laugh as he dismissed Pandey in the very next ball, brilliantly caught by Samson as Sunrsiers slumped to 121 for three after 15 overs.

Pandey made a fine 61 off 36 balls with the help of nine boundaries.

Vijay Shankar (8) too perished cheaply, caught by Jaydev Unadkat off Varun Aaron (2/36) in the next over as the batsman went for a big shot.

Wickets kept on tumbling for Sunrisers after a fine first wicket stand between Warner and Pandey. The next to depart was Deepak Hooda for a duck caught one-handed off his own bowling by Unadkat (2/26) in the next over.

But Rashid took the onus on himself and garnered 18 runs off Aaron's final over to take Sunrisers to a respectable total.